Dex's Diner
by Jedi Keladry
Summary: Attack of the Clones" vignette, from another point of view.


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Dex's Diner

She was still hung over a little, despite Dex's ministrations when she'd arrived this morning. Elana waited by the diner's pick-up area for something to be ready, and thought over the events of the previous evening.   
  
She had gone to her favorite club in the Underground and, as usual, spent several hours in an inebriated haze. Well, she amended, she was hazy until those Jedi walked in the door. Elana's attention had been ensnared right away. It was Dex's friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his apprentice, whose name she could never remember; she just called him Obi-Wan's Shadow. She watched as the older Jedi fended off a "free-lance entrepreneur" selling death sticks and smiled. _He'd probably do the same to me, if I tried anything_. But he looked good enough for her to want to come on to him; his longish hair flamed sunset in the neon lights.   
  
But then he whipped out his lightsaber and...disarmed...that woman. Elana had had to run for the 'fresher.   
  
Now Elana stood outside the kitchen, determined to just get through the day so she could go home. _I don't know why I keep this job. I work twice as hard my pittance implies_. Then again, Dex was a good boss. He looked like a cross between an ichthyoid and a desert lizard by way of an upset stomach, but he was sweet, and he didn't chase her around. She sighed and tucked the tip she had just gathered into the pouch she kept under her skirt.  
  
RB-4's shrill yell pierced Elana's throbbing head. "Someone to see ya, honey! Jedi, by the looks of him."   
  
Dex straightened. "Obi-Wan!"

Elana looked up, too. _Okay, this job has its perks_. Shadow wasn't with him. _Even better_. The older Jedi wasn't as pretty as his apprentice, but she certainly liked the way Obi-Wan looked. Shadow's face had secrets.   
  
The Jedi grinned. "Hello, Dex," he said cheerfully. Elana liked his eyes; today they twinkled light blue and crinkled up at the corners. His smile wasn't bad, either. Then she remembered her job, and took the two fruit slushies to Table Six.   
  
"Take a seat, I'll be right with ya," Dex said.   
  
Unfortunately, the Jedi sat at one of the tables RB was covering. Elana took an order, cleaned a table off, then hustled behind the counter to get jawa juice for another patron. She wasn't really interested in Dex's conversation with the Jedi anyway. She knew better than to get nosy in other people's business. But she did notice that Obi-Wan took something small and shiny out of his robes, held it up, then put it on the table. Whatever the Jedi and Dex were talking about, it was making Obi-Wan frown; a little line sliced up his forehead, a rift in between his red-gold eyebrows.   
  
Elana spoke to RB-4, then sat down in the kitchen to take a break. She positioned herself so that she could study the Jedi through one of the windows between the kitchen and the rest of the diner.   
  
He was looking thoughtfully at the little thing he had brought with him. His gaze was sharp and clear, alert like an avian. His nose was like an avian's beak, too, some kind of evolved, intelligent preybird.   
  
It was Obi-Wan's smile that made him human. Two sets of shallow dimples were on his face as he talked to Dex: one pair at the corners of his mouth, the other in his cheeks, denting his beard a little. Elana liked to think that meant he wasn't quite as dutifully dull as Jedi were rumored to be. He'd probably conjured up more than one elaborate practical joke in his lifetime.   
  
But his arched brows spoke of a sternness and a respect for his beliefs. Elana had seen evidence of his austerity sometimes when he spoke to Shadow.

She stretched her booted legs out and checked the chronometer. _Shavit_. Break was over already. Elana got to her feet.   
  
"Excuse me," came a voice from the doorway. The waitress turned. There he was, looking at her. Actually, he'd been looking at her legs moment before, but his eyes were on hers now. He seemed to like what they saw; a slow, sexy smile started in Obi-Wan's eyes and worked its way down until his mouth was participating, too. "Dex and RB are both busy, and I have to go. May I get a chocolate slushy to take with me?"   
  
"Absolutely," Elana replied. She knew she was blushing like a young girl, but she didn't mind much. He could have anything he wanted; he'd just made her day. She put the ingredients together in a canister and started the churner. "So where's your Shadow today, Master Jedi?"   
  
"Shadow?" he laughed. "Why do you call him that?" It wasn't accusatory, he seemed to be curious.   
  
She shrugged. "Never seen you without him before today."   
  
"It could be me that follows him around," Obi-Wan suggested, a teasing light in his eyes.   
  
Elana let out an ungentle-like snort, then glanced through the window. Dex was still socializing, so she reached into the frig for a jar of candied fruit. She showed him the label. "Ever had this before? It compliments chocolate well."   
  
The Jedi shook his head, so Elana found a utensil and speared one of the little fruits, then handed it to him. He popped it into his mouth and chewed, eyes closed. He smiled a little.   
  
Then his eyes flew open. "I think he likes it," Elana teased. She put another piece of fruit on top of the slushy, then a lid. "Good stuff, namana. Expensive, but it's worth the credits. Imported all the way from some little world on the Outer Rim." She handed him the slushy.   
  
He put a pentacred in her hand. "I'll get change," she began.   
  
Obi-Wan waved her off. "Keep it."   
  
"Thanks, Master Kenobi. You take care." She winked, just for fun.   
  
He smiled again. "Call me Obi-Wan. You, too." 

*

Author's Note: I originally published this vignette on the Obi-Wan Challenge thread on the boards at theforce.net. It was under the name Darth_Chickweed. I am not plagiarizing, I wrote this all by onesie, savvy? (Oops, wrong fantasy.)

The challenge was for us to write a vignette that described Obi-Wan. We were trying to recognize each other's writing styles without knowing who the author actually was.


End file.
